CAIRO, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Egypt confirmed on Thursday 1,485 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total cases in the country to 71,299, Egyptian Health Ministry said.
Meanwhile, 86 patients died from the novel coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 3,120, while 407 patients were cured and discharged from hospitals, increasing the total recoveries to 19,288, Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.
Megahed underlined Egypt's close cooperation with the World Health Organization regarding the pandemic.
Egypt announced its first confirmed COVID-19 case on Feb. 14 and the first death from the highly infectious virus on March 8.
Daily infections in the country have been exceeding 1,000 cases since May 28, with a record of 1,774 infections on June 19.
Earlier on Thursday, Egypt received two flights carrying 313 tourists from Switzerland and Belarus, a day after it received two flights with 297 tourists from Ukraine.
The arrival of foreign visitors came while Egypt resume on Wednesday international flights after more than three months of suspension over COVID-19 concerns.
Egypt has recently lifted a partial nighttime curfew imposed in the country over the past three months, amid a coexistence plan to maintain anti-coronavirus precautionary measures while resuming economic activities.
The country has reopened restaurants, cafes, theaters and cinemas with 25 percent of their capacity, and started gradual reopening of museums and archeological sites for tourists.
At least 260 hotels have recently been reopened for local tourists in Egypt with 50-percent capacity after they were given official hygiene safety certificates.
Egypt and China have been cooperating closely in fighting the pandemic through exchanging medical aid and expertise.
In early February, Egypt provided aid to China to help its fight against COVID-19 and China later returned favor by sending three batches of medical aid to the North African country, the latest of which was in mid-May.
Since mid-April, Chinese doctors and medical experts have held three video conferences with Egyptian counterparts to share their experience in the prevention and treatment of the novel coronavirus. Enditem
